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DECnet on Ubuntu - Tools

Now we will use the DECnet installation. Make sure both Ubuntu installation ("linux1" and "linux2") are up and running on the same network - be it physical or virtual.For all examples, I will work on "linux1" and contact "linux2" over network. My username and my password are both "joerg".There are "man" pages for each command below!

"dndir" - show directory on remote node

This is the first file related command I expercise, so things are getting more VMS-like now.All file-related DECnet commands use OpenVMS syntax for files and directories. Even if both local and remote nodes are Linuxes, the remote node is always accessed as if it would using OpenVMS.The OpenVMS file path syntax is quite different from UNIX path logic. The generic form for VMS-file names is

node::device:[rootdir.subdir.subdir...]file.ext;version

Most parts of the path are optional.I have an Eclipse-Installation in "/usr/joerg/eclipse" on "linux2". To list its installation directory, type

Be aware of file types: VMS files sometimes have an internal block structure, they are not just a stream of bytes. At least VMS-executables (with .EXE-Extension) must be copied with the “-mblock” Option. And other binary files, as backup-dumps, too.Read “man dncopy” and try experimenting with “-mrecord”,” -mblock” and “-b” options.